There is much to thank and praise God for after such a wonderful church camp at El Rancho in Waikanae last weekend.
We asked God to grow our church community as Morning and Night Church come together, getting to know one another and work out how they might serve and bless each other as we all mature in Christ. We asked that God would transform us through his Spirit as we read his life giving word. We also asked that we would have fun together enjoying the good things that God has made. […]
A quick eNews before we head to church camp tomorrow!
Please be praying for a safe and fun time away as we grow in community and in maturity as followers of Jesus together. Please also be praying for Jay Behan (the Bishop of the Church of Confessing Anglicans) who will be speaking for us on the Book of Judges.
This week the team has been across in Australia at the Reach Conference to join with 1,300 ministry workers to challenge and encourage one another to reach the nation with the good news of Jesus for the glory of God.
One of the consistent themes of the conference was that our mission, our service, our love for one another and the world, and our obedience to the Word must flow out of our love for God. Because God has first loved us in Christ we then live lives as wholehearted followers in Jesus. Any other motivation will be sorely lacking and will not sustain us over the long run or when times get tough.
Psalm 30:5 declares that although weeping may endure for a night, joy comes in the morning.
Perhaps, unsurprisingly, when this verse is quoted the emphasis often tends to fall on the joy that comes in the morning rather than the weeping in the night. And obviously there is wonderful truth in that hope. The book of Revelation points us to the great hope we have as those who trust in Jesus that there will be a day when God will wipe every tear from our eyes.
We will remember them…
ANZAC day has just passed, now for some of us it might be just another public holiday that we get each year or it’s the week where we have lots of ANZAC biscuits. But for others, and for over 100 years now, we stop on this day to remember the sacrifice that people made for our freedom. In WWI and WWII and many other conflicts since then, men and women have left the comforts of their home, fought, and died so we can live in a free country today.
I love these words of Augustine!
Man’s maker was made man that He, Ruler of the stars, might nurse at His mother’s breast; that the Bread might hunger, the Fountain thirst, the Light sleep, the Way be tired on its journey; that Truth might be accused of false witnesses, the Teacher be beaten with whips, the Foundation be suspended on wood; that Strength might grow weak; that the Healer might be wounded; that Life might die.
